PHOTO: Anthony Brett Kessler (19 of LeHigh Acres, Florida) was arrested for making a terroristic threat to conduct a shooting at Fort Payne High School. (Lee County Sheriff's Office)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
FORT PAYNE, Ala. — After an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Fort Payne Police Department, the Lee County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office arrested 19-year-old Anthony Kessler of Fort Myers, Florida on Tuesday.
Kessler is accused of making the threat towards Fort Payne High School, which panicked students and parents on March 5th, which was posted in an online chatroom and reported by a concerned citizen in Rochester, New York.
The threat caused Fort Payne City Schools to make attendance optional for the day in question.
Yesterday, deputies in Florida located Kessler at a restaurant on Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers and arrested him as an out-of-state fugitive from justice.
"This arrest would not have been possible without the Fort Payne Police Department Detectives, Gadsden FBI Special Agent Frank Langdon and Supervisory Resident Agent in Charge of the FBI Gadsden office Stan Ruffin," said Fort Payne Police Chief Randy Bynum, in a statement.
"The cooperation that Gadsden FBI gave us in bringing Mr. Kessler to justice can not be measured. This is an example of cooperation between agencies going above and beyond for the safety of Fort Payne school students," said Bynum.
"We take every threat seriously," said Eric W. Sporre, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Tampa Division in a statement. "The FBI Tampa Field Office continues to work with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in assessing any and all threats. As always, we will work with our law enforcement partners to gather, share and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention."
